Announcing Pantone Colour of The Year 2018
It’s the interior design moment we wait for all year, the Pantone Colour of the Year. This is the defining hue that takes its cues from the year behind us, and sets the tone for the year ahead.
This year, the colour experts at Pantone followed up on 2017’s Greenery by selecting a hue that’s as unexpected as it is refreshing. Pantone announced in December that purple will reign as the colour of the year in 2018.
Introducing Pantone 18-3838, also known as Ultra Violet!
About Pantone 18-3838, Ultra Violet
Ultra Violet, or Pantone 18-3838, is a complex, celestial shade of purple. Which veers toward the cooler end of the colour spectrum. That calls to mind the vastness of the galaxy, the power of spirituality, and creative expression in all its forms.
Pantone’s colour of the year, Ultra Violet, is meant to evoke originality and visionary thinking. Inventive and imaginative, Ultra Violet lights the way to what is yet to come.
A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, Pantone 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.
Complex and contemplative, Ultra Violet suggests the mysteries of the cosmos. The intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now. The vast and limitless night sky is symbolic of what is possible and continues to inspire the desire to pursue a world beyond our own.
Ultra Violet and Society Today
Innovation, inspiration, and a nod to the feminist movement, are at the heart of Pantone’s 2018 colour of the year, which sets the tone for the year ahead.
More than merely a colour swatch, there are social and political messages embedded in Pantone’s colour of the year. Whether it be 2017’s focus on sustainability and the environment represented in “Greenery” to 2016’s dual colours of “Rose Quartz” and “Serenity” celebrating the rise of gender fluidity.
This year’s theme is no exception. The colour company’s choice of Ultra Violet can be interpreted as a strong statement about the current cultural zeitgeist and the ongoing struggle for women’s rights around the world. The announcement follows in the footsteps of Time magazine’s highly anticipated “Person of the Year”, which was awarded to “the Silence Breakers” of the #MeToo movement and beyond.
Purple has also long stood for sisterhood and solidarity in the struggle for women’s rights. It was the symbolic colour chosen by the suffragettes who campaigned for women’s right to vote in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is still used by feminists today as an emblem for the ongoing struggle for women’s rights across the world. And is prominently associated with the annual International Women’s Day.
The choice also calls to mind African-American author Alice Walker’s groundbreaking 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning Novel “The Color Purple”, which deals with racism in America.
Last Year’s Colour of The Year, Greenery
The Pantone Colour Institute has been choosing a colour of the year since 1999. Last year, a zesty shade of green called Greenery was chosen. We loved the Pantone Colour of the Year 2017, Greenery and although it will soon be replaced by Pantone we have a feeling this rich acidic brilliant tone, straight from natures beauty, will not be going away in 2018.
In 2016, Pantone picked two soft colours – a baby blue and dusty pink. Like Greenery, the colours are also often bold in tone. Other examples include the brownish-red Marsala chosen for 2015, the purply pink Radiant Orchid announced for 2014, and the bright orange Tangerine Tango in 2012.
Ultra Violet follows 2017’s Pantone colour of the year, Pantone 15-0343, aka “greenery,” a spring shade that represented hope and a closeness with nature.
Greenery blended with brilliant light greens all the way to rich deep emeralds, paired with brilliant golds and brass tones. Also, accented by striking blacks makes for an exotic colour palette that is timeless.
Past Colours of the Year
Ultra Violet Within the Music Industry
Musical icons Prince, David Bowie, and Jimi Hendrix brought shades of Ultra Violet to the forefront of western pop culture as personal expressions of individuality. This announcement will certainly please Prince fans, who favoured the shade throughout his career.
Ultra Violet is not too dissimilar to the new colour it launched earlier this year, to pay tribute to pop icon Prince following his death. If only Prince were alive to see this.
“Enigmatic purples” have also “long been symbolic of counterculture, unconventionality, and artistic brilliance”. Purple’s influence can also be charted throughout popular culture, with the colour synonymous with the unconventional and counterculture. Ranging from pioneering and boldly original artists such as “the Purple One”, Prince, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix.
Nuanced and full of emotion, the depth of Pantone 18-3838 Ultra Violet symbolises experimentation and non-conformity. Which spurs individuals to imagine their unique mark on the world, and push boundaries through creative outlets.
Incorporating Ultra Violet at Home
When it comes to interior design and home decorating, Pantone’s colour of the year plays a hugely influential role in dictating trends for the year to come.
“Ultra Violet can transform a room into one of extraordinary self-expression, or conversely its polish can tone down a room with subdued, modern pairings,” Pantone states.
Because it has both warm and cool temperatures that are inherent in it. It has more versatility than people might think it has. Not only do purples mesh together marvellously, they also serve as strong complementary colours — perhaps paired with last year’s Greenery. Ultra Violet speaks to the mutability of contemporary culture.
“Adding spice and brightness, Ultra Violet calls attention to a tufted couch, a piece of art or accent wall. As a colour that can take you in so many directions, Ultra Violet makes a statement in any space. Whether it’s one of tradition and elegance or unexpected boldness.”
Interior designers and around the world have reacted strongly to the bold choice.
Thoughts on Ultra Violet?
It’s worth noting that purple tends to come into vogue at important turning points in history. Also, that turbulent times are often, in their turn, crucibles for artistic expression.
Could the rise of Ultra Violet in 2018 be a sign of a cultural renaissance to come? It’s too early to say, but we have high hopes for this complicated, contemplative shade of purple.
Well, at this stage, a lot of us may try anything. Gird yourself. We may be in for a new kind of purple reign.
What are your thoughts on Ultra Violet? Which colour of the year has been your favourite so far? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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